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Champs Sports Bowl Forecast: 

 

Vs. Purdue                                                                                       

 

“You can use a good Boiler Marker after the Holidays!”

            Chief D-7 Meteorologist Bob Wevodau 

 

THE INTRO: 

Finally, a bowl forecast.  I can’t express how happy I am typing right now.  Let me be the first to say THE D-7 CURSE IS OVER!!!  I really enjoy doing these forecasts, I know not as many people read them now days, but that’s ok.  I consider it a labor of love, and I know at least J and Chris will check them out.  But as much as I love doing the ACC game forecasts, it gets kind of boring.  Consider this, we played games in College Park, Morgantown WV, Atlanta, Charlottesville, Clemson, and Boston.  Though each city has it’s own weather history, there isn’t really much difference in the early fall between Morgantown, Atlanta, Charlottesville, and College Park.  Now playing Clemson in November is a little different since we usually cool down much quicker than South Carolina, but other than that game and the Boston College game (whose weather was disappointingly a lot like Maryland’s) we really don’t see weather all that different.

But Bowl season changes all of that.  Florida in late December is entirely different than Maryland in late December, in fact some years it’s hard to even imagine we’re both in the United States.  So I have been looking forward for a long time to this football game in an “exotic” location so I can take a good look at what there is to expect somewhere different than here. 

Anyway, even though this is the weather page, no one really cares that much about the forecast as they do the game and what it means to us.  Lately the Terps have been having great success in the post season (minus that little Orange Bowl debacle), the Terps went in to the Peach Bowl as heavy underdogs to the Mighty Volunteers of Tennessee and gave them a pounding.  They did the same thing the following year to West Virginia, in fact I can’t remember the last time the Terps played in a tight bowl game, but this year could be different. 

This game means a lot to the Terps.  We finished the year with two bad losses and blew a chance at the ACC Championship so we need to regain some momentum going into the off season.  Luckily for us, we can still finish 9-4 and possibly re-crack the top 25 which would by far exceed anyone of our pre-season expectations.  Unfortunately I don’t know too much about Purdue, but it will be fun to research them in the coming weeks leading up to the bowl.  That’s the best part of bowl season, getting to know a new opponent from a different conference, and experiencing different (in our case luckily warmer!) weather, so on to the forecast.

 

THE HISTORY:

Were going to do things a little different here for the Champs Bowl, sure I will give you all the facts for Orlando, but just to put it in perspective, I will also include the College Park Weather.  So here we go.  The average high in Orlando, FL for December 29th is 67 F°.  The average high in College Park, MD for December 29th is 44 F°.  The average low in Orlando, FL for this date is 49 F° and the average low back in Maryland is 29F° (This is why Florida has a thriving Citrus Industry while Maryland’s Citrus Industry is, shall we say, still dormant).

The Record high for Orlando on December 29th is a balmy 82 F (in 1996), while the record high on the same day in CP is 75 F (in 1984).  The record low for Orlando is a still not freezing 39 F (2002), while College Parks is, get this…2 F (1917) and no I am not omitting any numbers before the 2.  I don’t know if it has ever been 2 F here in my life, that is unbelievable. 

 

THE FORECAST:

At this time of year we don’t have much on Florida in terms of weather.  Sure our snowman building and sledding crushes them, but that doesn’t really inspire much jealously from the Sunshine State, but when it comes to weather and the Farmers Almanac, at least we can say on December 29th we at least tied them.  For both the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast, the Almanac is calling for “fair and cold weather, becoming milder”.  Considering that the Almanac gives forecasts over about a 3 day period, I really don’t know if we are going to have cold weather, or if December 29th will be more of the becoming milder weather so let’s split the difference. 

Overall this year has seen some fantastic tailgating weather, so I am going to count on that trend to continue and call for some milder weather for this match up.  So without further ado (not to be confused with DC United who is now “Without Freddy Adu”, I give you the long awaited 2006 Champs Bowl Forecast (Cue pyrotechnics):

  

The forecast for the December 29, 2006 “Champs Sports Bowl Game” (finally I don’t have to name the game for once) is for great mid Florida weather.  Unfortunately it will be a little chilly in the morning so you may want to pack a jacket, but as the day goes on you will be tying that sucker around your waste (or if you’re me you’ll be carrying your wife’s around for her all day!).  As the sun warms up look for highs to be in the mid to low 70’s with gentle breezes.  Unfortunately this is a night game so the low will come back into play later in the day.  I think the temp will bottom out somewhere in the mid 50’s.  So we’ll say a high of 75 and a low of 53.   Unlike chronically windy College Park, I look for there to be not much in terms of wind.  The skies should also remain clear and the though it is ALWAYS a risk to say this for a Florida forecast, I don’t think we will see any rain. 

     

The only advisory for this game is that I advise you to cheer your ass off for the Terps!!       

The game day sunrise in Orlando, FL on December 29th is for 7:17 am.  The sunset is scheduled for 5:37 pm.  As for the moon, it will be a waxing gibbous with 71% illumination.  It will rise at 1:25 pm and won’t set until the next day.  It has no plans on missing this match up! 

 

THE SNOW REPORT:

As you have figure out by now there is not really any realistic chance for snow in Orlando even in late December.  It looks like we can officially close the snow book on Maryland in 2006.  One day we’ll play a game in the snow, but like the last 20 some years, it won’t be 2006.  However if you are home and watching this match up on TV in the comfort of your bar or living room, the record snow fall for this date was 5.0” which occurred way back in 1935. 

Look here for further updates, as we get closer to game day.

 

THE CHARITY PLEA:

Again, the Charity plea is over for 2006, but I can’t say thanks enough.  We doubled our goal for the year and not only drank reservoirs worth of beer, we managed to keep 20 turtles from ever seeing the inside of a boiling pot.  More details on Save the Terrapins activities coming up this Spring.                                                                                                                                                          “Save us!”

As mentioned in the last Tailgate Recap, we finished at $300 and have saved 20 turtles.  It’s time to begin thinking of what we would like to do for tailgating in 2007.    

 

Look here for further updates, as we get closer to game day.

 

THE X-FACTOR: 

Just to show you some extremes that could happen and have happened on this particular date in weather history. 

  • 1830 - A very heavy snowstorm ushered in the "winter of the deep snow". The storm produced 30 inches of snow at Peoria IL and 36 inches at Kansas City MO. Cold and snow continued until the middle of February causing great suffering among pioneers. (David Ludlum)
  • 1894 - A severe freeze hit Florida destroying fruit and causing considerable damage to trees. (David Ludlum) Uh Oh!!
  • 1954 - Fort Scott, KS, was buried under 26 inches of snow in 24 hours to establish a state record. (28th-29th) (The Weather Channel)
  • 1984 - One hundred cities in the central and eastern U.S. reported record high temperatures. Kansas City, MO, experienced its warmest December day of record with a morning low of 60 degrees and an afternoon high of 71 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
  • 1987 - A storm off the Middle Atlantic Coast produced heavy snow in the Appalachians and the northeastern U.S. Snow and high winds created blizzard conditions in southeastern Massachusetts. Cape Cod received thirteen inches of snow, and snow drifts three feet deep were reported around Chatham MA. Strong winds produced wind chill readings as cold as 60 degrees below zero in southwestern New England. In the western U.S., a Pacific coast storm produced heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada Range of California, with 24 inches reported at Mammoth Mountain. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
  • 1988 - A cold front brought rain and snow to the northwestern U.S. The rainfall total of 2.70 inches at Astoria OR was a record for the date. High winds along the eastern slopes of the Northern Rockies gusted to 81 mph at Livingston MT. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
  • 1989 - Snow and ice prevailed from the southwestern U.S. to the Great Lakes Region. Flagstaff, AZ, received nine inches of snow in just six hours. Bitter cold weather continued over Maine. Portland ME reported a record twenty-two straight days with highs 32 degrees or colder. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

 

***This is a disclaimer to remove all responsibility on myself if this forecast is wrong.  Being that it is very difficult to predict the weather greater than 48 hours in advance, the odds of needing this disclaimer are about 100%.  However I do believe this forecast will be pretty close to what we can actually look to expect.